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TRUMP: LOCKED AND LOADED

Category: Russians

Amped Up Loose Canon

During an October 25, 2016 interview, Donald Trump said that Hillary Clinton’s policies as president would lead to World War III, adding that he believed that the Democratic nominee would draw the US into armed confrontation with Russia, Syria and Iran. Nowhere in his pronouncement did he mention the country of North Korea, the country that Obama told him would be his biggest problem.

His warning about “fire and fury” was almost like a prophecy-come-true. He warned us that Clinton would get us into war, when in fact, it was his own dream to get us into war. This is just more of his maniacal way of thinking. Or, as some might say, his lack of tapping into his logical frontal cortex and permitting his over-ripe amygdala to do all the talking. Pure bully.

And now this morning (8-11-2017) Trump tweeted, “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!” If Donald Trump thinks he knows more than the generals, then let’s see what he knows. For sure, he knows how to produce FEAR.

The Donald’s early morning tweet was motivated, according to CNN, by North Korea’s statement, “Trump is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.” What Trump fails to understand is the North Koreans are making a “legal” statement to present a case to the world court in the future. If need be, they will present a case that he was, in fact, the aggressor.

Even though the United Nations Security Council voted 15 to 0 on sanctions against North Korea, Trump has no patience to operate in a diplomatic world. He wants all the “nonsense” to stop now. Most experts will tell you that sanctions are a long-term fix for disobedience. There is no quick-fix for sovereign freedoms and actions for self-protection. Now that Trump has threatened North Korea, we are in the stand-off mode. Where are Jack and Bobby Kennedy when we need them?

In most likelihood, if Kim Jong Un will do what he says he will, with four missiles fired over Japan and into the sea near Guam, our great Orange Leader will then have to do something. He has painted himself into a corner. Most aggressions he might employ would kill people. We assume that Donald Trump has never knowingly killed anyone and this challenge is far greater than anything he has encountered in his 71-years on the planet. If “sticking up for America” means killing hundreds of thousands of people, then all who said he does not have the temperament to be President were sadly accurate.

It’s not only the mixed messages, but the fact that Trump is already at war with his own cabinet, the Congress and the courts. When a total idiot like Sebastian Gorka, who the taxpayers fund, said that Rex Tillerson doesn’t have right to talk about the military, that is a problem. The State Department ‘s Heather Nauert even pushed back against Gorka’s assertion that it was “nonsensical” for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to speak on military matters. Nauert commented about Rex Tillerson, “He’s a Cabinet secretary. He’s fourth in line to the presidency. He carries a big stick.” A surrogate talking-head, like Gorka, is totally out of line critiquing a cabinet member. He should be removed from the White House immediately. Major Trump administration problem.

Trump finds time to battle with Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate, rather than keeping the country posted on his plans and explaining how we are safe and that he has some strategy to eliminate this problem in Asia.

When knowledgeable people are saying that Trump is making matters worse, he feels the need to shout. Instead of sucking up the criticism and focusing on the task at hand, Trump choses to battle everyone. He seems more eager to pick a fight than find a solution.

He used a telling phrase yesterday. The Donald was asked if his warning to North Korea was a dare, his response was, “It’s not a dare. It’s a statement. Has nothing to do with dare. That’s a statement. He’s not going to go around threatening Guam and he’s not going to threaten the United States and he’s not going to threaten Japan, and he’s not going to threaten South Korea. No, that’s not a dare, as you say. That is a statement of fact.”

Once again, our President took the bait based on a crafty reporter’s question. Trump used the same word four times in his statement. That is what I call the implication of the opposite. When you emphasize something with repetition, it becomes what is remembered most. So, maybe it is a “dare” and war is just another game this man thinks he wants to play.

No one in their right mind wants war. Trump complains about how no one has ever done anything about the crazy kid in North Korea. Well, Mr. President, I hate to remind you, but your first plan was to get Russia and/or China to take care of the matter. How did that turn out? So now you say you want to go it alone and get the job done. But what does getting the job done look like?

If Harry Truman and Douglas MacArthur were alive today, what would they say? Harry Truman would tell Trump to back off and attempt to find some diplomatic solution and while doing it, “shut your damn pie-hole.” But even Harry Truman, if tested, would’ve had no problem dropping an atomic bomb on North Korea. In fact, he dropped two of them on Japan. He claimed use of the nuclear option probably saved one million American lives.

If MacArthur was to be asked for his two-cents worth, he would loudly say, “Take all the land north of the 38th parallel; liberate the North and unite the country.” After all, that was want he wanted to do in 1951. He was so hell-bent on defeating the North he would have sacrificed one million lives to do it. Truman fired MacArthur. The General was never elected President and, in fact, lost his case for vindication in Congress. Clearly, MacArthur did not have the temperament to be president.

In the end, Trump will be seen on the world stage as the lunatic he really is and America will remain divided, as it was during the Vietnam war. There will be those people, the “hawks”, who will get behind the war-minded president, while the “doves” will be protesting in the street. All those things Donald Trump said about our stupid leaders who wasted all that money on wars will demonstrate how much a novice Trump is in this role and how hypocritical his words and actions are.

He would rather be the big guy screaming at everyone and plunging the world into war than ever to be criticized. We will see our 401Ks go down the drain and the economy will once again be as unstable as our leader. Did we pick the right person for president? Only time will tell, Donald.

Calling Bluff at the Table

I’ve never been a good poker player lacking the special skills of bluffing, decoying and raising. We know that Kim Jong Un has made a pretty big move in his missile and nuclear program. Yesterday (8-8-2017) Trump raised the stakes with a war of words.

With this quote, Donald Trump seems to be putting on a squeeze and going all in, “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

It’s amazing to me that so many so-called “experts” on TV the day after (8-9-2017) Trump bombastic words were sprayed at North Korea, said that he wasn’t really sending a message to Kim Jong Un. Some claim he was endeavoring to shake the Chinese leaders out of their passive restraint of North Korea. Really?

One of the things we have covered on this site has been the negatives of being unpredictable and uncertain. Trump’s use of the term “fire and fury” was interpreted by most military people to mean nuclear war. You cannot drop an atomic bomb as a warning shot. We hope the Donald understands that.

After our President made such a harsh statement, North Korea didn’t wait too long to get its propaganda TV news team to blast a message back at Trump that they are seriously considering a strike against the island of Guam.

This island was selected as a strategic target. For one, most Americans don’t realize that since the Spanish-American War, Guam has been a territory of the United States. People born in Guam are automatically US citizens and our Andersen Air Force Base not only played a major role in the Vietnam War, but it is where the fighters come from that we’ve been using to “intimidate” Kim. To say you are thinking about attacking Guam is saying you will attack the United States.

The day after the Donald’s, arm-folded (defensive posture), “F & F” announcement, our great Orange Leader’s rhetoric was toned down on Twitter today (8-9-2017), “My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before. Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”

While the President was trying to temper his own words, his Secretary of State returning to the mainland said that he doesn’t believe there is “any imminent threat” and added, “Americans should sleep well at night.” Unless he has plans to get Trump out of office, his request that I sleep well at night will have no effect. In a strange plot twist, the use of Tweeter was the more mature approach this time. We didn’t quite get teleprompter Trump, but the Twitter Trump was much calmer than Impromptu Trump.

The irony of this new crisis is that Trump was told by Obama before he left that this would be the new President’s most difficult challenge. And as someone mentioned on a talk-show last night, the days of a President, like Obama, doing nothing about the problem, sure seems now like a more reasonable approach. You see, there is quite a bit of history on how countries get nuclear power and then eventually atomic weapons. They just do it. When someone has the capability of using nuclear arsenal, you really don’t have much to say about it. It’s like an international 2nd Amendment.

What Trump is playing with, is not the lives of thousands of Americans who are live in South Korea, but the 25 million Koreans in Seoul, the capital. When approaching a madman with an atomic bomb, you probably shouldn’t act like a madman.

As I have stated before, if you look at Pakistan, with 140 nuclear bombs and their neighbor, India with 130 devices, you can see that a stalemate in the bomb business is all you can wish for. Once India got the A-bomb, Pakistan had to get their own collection. And the world stood by and watched them do it. How could you protest a country trying to defend itself?

North Korea, short of China and Russian moving troops and armament to the northern most border of Kim Jong Un’s domain, will get an atomic bomb. In fact, they already have one. They have never stopped aiming toward that goal. When you are a dictator, you usually do whatever you want. So, what is this all about?

Does this mean that South Korea will need to have 50, then 100, then 150 nukes just to keep up with the Un? We can send the whole U.S. Pacific Fleet to the waters around North Korea and wait. But what will we be waiting for? Trump, once again, is using the bully pulpit the wrong way. If the strategy is bad cop, good cop, with Tillerson playing the good cop, the international ramifications of the rhetoric gives this President the reputation of being all over the place. And sad to say, a person who appears to be unhinged.

The process of leading a great nation like the United States has never been easy. But this time, the tough businessman has met his match. And we all hope and pray that the Orange wannabe General doesn’t do the wrong thing. War courts are the wrong place to brag about how successful you were in an election.

Trump’s Fan Base Illusion

On NBC’s Today Show, Nikki Haley said that, “Just because we pulled out of the Paris accord doesn’t mean we don’t believe in climate protection. We’re saying we’re not going to sell out American businesses to do that.” But that wasn’t the only thing she said. She agreed with the interviewers that there is some “Unnecessary Chatter” that comes out of the White House. When pressed on whether the administration would accept the new research on climate change, she said, “Sure, they will.”

When someone in the administration uses the term “they” one can assume they are distancing themselves. Nikki is a strong person to have as Ambassador to the United Nations, but she is but one cog in a wheel that appears at times to be dangerously close to shaking off the cart. The driver of that cart, at times, appears to be facing in the wrong direction.

Climate Change is just as important as what we do with North Korea, it’s just that Trump has so over-committed to his “hoax” rhetoric, that there is apparently no turning back. Climate protection, as long as it doesn’t hurt American business, is a bit like a guy saying, “Sure, I’ll use a condom, as long as it doesn’t keep me from making a baby.”

What Trump is really obsessed with this week is the fact all the polls make it seem like his base is eroding. Not sure why Trump, of all people, would even care about polls and research. As he so accurately points out, all the polls were wrong about the election.

But nonetheless, he decided to fight back on Twitter: “Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!” The facts are, more and more people in the fringe and the base are getting a little frustrated with our great Orange Leader. We are hearing some blame being given to the Congress, but some of the more aware free-basers remember how the Donald bragged about being the great “dealmaker.” Everything was going to happen fast and would be so “beautiful.”

Of course, while Trump was thrashing the “Fake News” they were reporting that Trump had retweeted a very positive message from one of his followers. The tweet came from Nicole Mincey, who ended up being a Russian bot. Trump was aiding and abetting the Russians in a plot to make him feel good about his base. Funny stuff, until you realize that the same arm of the Russian hackers was trying to discredit General McMaster. This is where Breitbart also saw a soft target. Did the Russians fool such a “reputable” news site like Breitbart?

Twitter, seeing that the subscriber Nicole Mincey was part of the Russian propaganda machine, shut the account down, according the Washington Post (8-8-2017). It’s not quite collusion, but the boys over in Moscow were able to create the illusion that Trump has more fans than he thinks. But, who can really know?

There will be many statisticians and pollsters attempting to understand the real numbers in this so called “base.” But let me remind everyone of that so-called “fire-wall” that Hillary Clinton thought she had in commonwealths like Virginia and Pennsylvania. They were illusions as well. Clinton had no special protection and I would advance the notion that Trump’s base is another imaginary “fire wall.”

The Trump base will not protect against Democratic advances in the 2018 elections. The base got their man into the White House, and will not turn out in droves for Republicans running for re-election in Congress. They already are angry at anyone in Congress for not fixing healthcare.

The “unnecessary chatter” that sister Nikki pointed out is what is getting in the way of this President and his administration’s lack of success on the playing field. Haley said “The ball is in North Korea’s court. They now have to decide where they want to go from here. We hope that they will go the route of peace and security.” Well, if the analogy is to be taken on face value, that would mean that North Korea is on offense? How did that happen?

It is very clear that having a President like Donald Trump, whatever any official in the government says may be quickly displaced by Trump’s next tweet. When asked about the diplomacy-by-tweet-syndrome, Nikki Haley said, “I have not had one country complain to me about the President’s tweets.” Aren’t Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin complaining about what Trump has said in tweets? Actions speak louder than tweets.

The White House hired hands could do the country a big favor by setting up one of Trump’s campaign type rallies, where anyone can attend. Why not have it in, say, Northern California or Seattle? And when the President gets a dose of the people who disapprove of his manic management style, he might be a bit humbler. Maybe even a bit more open to that fact that his “Fan Base” only gets him ratings on the TV show that takes place in Trump’s head. And as that audience dwindles, as all audiences eventually do, he will be forced to face the facts. We don’t have a freaking “Fan Base,” we have a COUNTRY of full of different kinds of Americans.

Donald Feels the Footsteps

As the news broke that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was putting together a federal grand jury, Donald Trump was winging his way to West Virginia for another ego boost from his base.

Maybe Donald Trump believes that these gun-toting, God fearing, red-blooded Americans will come to his aid in his revolution to keep his position and power, but there is indeed a new sheriff in town who is focusing on law. And law alone.

Like the dog-catcher seeking re-election, the Donald keeps telling us about the dangers of rabies, when the real problem is the dog-catcher himself. He keeps biting the dogs hoping he can instill fear in them.

We have heard endless discussions on mainstream media about what a grand jury means and what its purpose is in the investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election. The malfeasance that took place did have a motive, there was ample opportunity to commit the crime and there is a smoking gun. You can see the result of the interference on the WikiLeaks web site. I’d say there was a crime committed.

What does a grand jury do? In this case, it will give the Special Counsel the ability to call witnesses, deliver subpoenas to those who might have been involved and of course, the potential of bringing charges against someone or something.

A grand jury’s job is to accuse persons who may be guilty of an offense. They also function as a shield against unfounded and oppressive prosecution. It’s a means for regular citizens, who in a sense represent the community at large, to have a role in the administration of justice. The traditional number of the grand jury is 23 and one of the unique differences from a regular court proceeding, the jurors can ask questions during the proceedings.

I was a plaintiff in a case where a grand jury was asked to bring charges against a man who broke into my house. I was simply asked to tell the story of what happened and they decided that a crime had been committed. The defendant was charged with burglary, later plead guilty and had to pay restitution for the destruction of the front door of my house.

Those who serve on the grand jury will not be involved in the larger case, but they play an important role in our judicial system and can be empaneled for months at a time.

While Trump was in West Virginia, he held his rally and regurgitated his position on the matter of the Russian interference. From the stage surrounded by rabid fans, the dog catcher threw the horde some red meat and screamed, “The Russian story is a total fabrication, it is just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics. That’s all it is.” Well, then, why do we need a grand jury? The man has spoken and he always tells the truth. What?

But he wasn’t done, he had to have the last word on everything, so he continued, “They can’t beat us at the voting booths so they are trying to cheat you out of the … future that you want. They are trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly demeaning to our country and demeaning to our Constitution.”

The use of the word “demeaning” is interesting. Is he really saying that investigating whether a foreign power attempted to affect the Presidential election is demeaning? Demeaning is causing someone to lose their dignity and the respect of others. If we don’t investigate the meddling, we would be demeaning our country and our Constitution. This is pure Orwellian Newspeak. Trump insists on the opposite to state his case. And is anyone in his crowds really thinking?

His lawyers, especially Ty Cobb, have a proper viewpoint of this investigation, “The White House has every interest in bringing this to a prompt and fair conclusion. As we’ve said in the past, we’re committed to cooperating fully with Mr. Mueller.” The fact that Trump travels in an alternative universe shows that he has no respect for the law or even his legal team. Most good attorneys tell their clients to shut up and I’m sure that’s happening here, but Trump isn’t heeding that good advice.

Donald Trump should read the Maranda statement that police read to people as they are arresting them. It might not be too long before Trump hears these words: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” I am sure our great Orange Leader will be able to afford his own attorney.

Trump Sinks & Blames

When the latest polls came out today (8-3-2017), we could feel a shiver move through the Republican party. The 2018 elections aren’t that far away and those running for re-election now worry that the political depression from the big guy might rain on their parade.

In the latest Quinnipiac poll really demonstrates that there is another leak the President should be focusing on; the leak of his popularity. The headline out of the latest stats is the fact that Trump’s approval rating is only 33%. Wow, that isn’t very popular. I wonder why the administration isn’t trying to figure out what to do about that, or is it too late?

The poll surveyed 1,125 voters around the country from July 27 to August 1, 2017. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.4 points.

54% said they were embarrassed to have him as president

57% said they he was abusing the powers of his office

60% said they believed he was above the law

71% said Trump was not levelheaded

62% said Trump was not honest

63% said Trump did not have good leadership skills

59% said he did not care about average Americans

63% said he did not share their values

The number that jumps out for me is the 62% of the people surveyed said that the 45th President of the United States is not honest. The other number that really hurts me is the 59% who said that Trump doesn’t care about average Americans. Sad!

As these numbers hit the press today, Trump was back on Twitter with his latest whine: “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can’t even give us HCare!” [sic]

We can always count on the Donald to deflect blame and to attempt to position himself far away from the kitchen of governance. And the military is starting to get a taste of his modus operandi, served up with a side of naiveté.

He pissed off “his generals” in the Situation Room by complaining about not winning in Afghanistan. Really? The great Orange Leader should pick up the phone and call his friend in Russia learn how well they did in Afghanistan. They spend 10 years in the country and the only accomplishment was empowering Osama bin Laden, a terrorist.

Trump’s lack of awareness of history is astounding. And his pathological way of shifting blame away from himself is not only disturbing, it’s counterproductive. The reason our relationship with Russia is bad is because we caught them trying to hack our election and pushing propaganda to help Trump get elected. Congress was just doing their job, finally.

When 71% of those surveyed said that you are not levelheaded Mr. Trump, you should be thinking about how to manage the damage that has been done, rather than casting blame toward the Legislative branch.

This is all part of the things we have outline on this blog over that last 8 months. We can keep doing the same thing over and over again, but in reality, the more we experience of this White House, the more those stats from Quinnipiac seem extremely plausible.

Trump always took pride in his ability to manipulate the press and handle his own P.R., but when he’s finally put under the microscope by the American public, they see the little germs and viruses in his current sample of leadership.

Trump will get on the taxpayer funded jet airplane tonight and go to West Virginia and get feedback from a select group of rabid fans. He will once again get some love from people who actual believe he was the right choice. But as time goes on, and things don’t get better, that 33% approval rating will drop lower. And the truth is, the only person to blame is Trump himself.

Can Trump Be Trusted?

While television is saturated with the stories about Trump writing the Don Jr cover-up statement and the White House being implicated in a law suit concerning a FAKE Fox News story linking a murdered campaign worker to leaked emails from the DNC, there is another story beckoning our attention. War is on the horizon. You certainly would never want to be in a war or escalated conflict anywhere in the world and the very last thing we need right now is an amateur in the White House to deal with this incendiary situation.

North Korea is a powder keg. Syria is a problem that we have given to Russia, while we fight on in Afghanistan, the forgotten war. For 16 years, the United States has been in that country with no peace in sight. Obama did everything he could to keep America out of war, deploying strategic drone strikes with limited US military casualties. After more than 14 missiles being launched by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, we decided to launch our own test missile from California. (8-1-2017) More sword rattling.

While Donald Trump domestically treads water in the deeper, darker end of the swamp, the world is watching his next move with North Korea. As we get to the first day of August, 2017, the White House is in chaos. The press is hitting Trump and family very hard about their lies and misrepresentations. But that doesn’t change the reality that we are getting to the point where if Donald Trump doesn’t draw a red line in the sand with Kim Jong, he becomes the chess player who freezes and cannot make the next move. If you do nothing you maintain your unpredictability, but you get nothing accomplished.

What is the next move? Has Rex Tillerson really done anything to defuse the potential situation by establishing a diplomatic dialogue? This dance of the mighty with blasting rockets by both parties, is a waste of fuel. When Un propels an ICBM into the sky, we fly our fighters near the boundary of North Korea. If this seems a bit childish and over-reactionary, you have to remember the two players. They are both boy-bullies on the playground.

One positive consequence of having lots of generals on the administration payroll is the added layer of stability to an otherwise chaotic White House. There are those who would fear having lots of generals around, but Trump thinks they protect him from a military coup. Funny how conspiracy oriented the Donald is. Silly man.

There is this political conspiracy theory that Presidents have always done well with re-election when they are in the middle of a war. We trust that the generals would never co-conspire with Trump to pull off a popular war to aid Trump. But think about this. If the White House would stoop so low as to use a murder to cover up collusion with Russia, where is their moral compass?

One of the things that the Trump team says when they are trying to bail out our leader after he offends or misspeaks is, “Oh, he was just joking.” When you are the President of the United States, and you are dealing with risky regimes and rogue rulers, you must be careful not to drop a bad joke. Trump isn’t as funny as he thinks he is, but in front of an adoring audience he gets carried away. This is the guy who has the nuclear codes? God save us.

Donald J. Trump thinks he knows everything. He reminds me of a rich guy who likes to watch baseball and decides he knows enough to buy a baseball team. He believes, “I will show them how to win.” After a few years in the league and millions of dollars lost, he becomes frustrated that winning on the professional level is so difficult. What most people don’t realize is that just because you can watch something on TV, doesn’t make you an expert with it.

Recall that our Orange Leader said, “Who knew healthcare was so complicated?” Well everyone but you knew it’s complicated, airhead. And guess what, Donald. Foreign affairs, political planning and domestic programs are nothing compared to war. Is our President qualified to be the Commander-in-Chief? We think not.

With Trump’s inability to quell what he calls a “witch-hunt” how can he possibly deal with actual witches? Yes, war is a witch, the evilest, most terrible sorceress, who drains your sons and daughter’s blood, rips the gold from your coffers and stains any presidency. There is no dry-cleaner in historical analysis.

While we all watch North Korea develop a nuclear weapons program, Trump will soon be seen for the fake that he is. And if he gets talked into striking first, he won’t be bragging about a great the stock market. Just take a look at a list of the products that come out of Japan, South Korea and China. War is a long, dark winter and if this President takes that step, then we are economically doomed.

Can Trump Follow Suit?

There is a big distance between rhetoric and action, but in Trump World, our leader thinks that if he says it, it is so. Or even worse, he thinks that if he orders something, then it will automatically happen. This pompous, over-blown self-evaluation of his salesmanship prowess and imaginary ability to get things done is really embarrassing in the light of day.

He keeps telling us how much he has completed and all we see are carcasses of the people he has fired along the way. If these people weren’t good enough to go more than six months, then the guy who picked them clearly doesn’t know what he is doing. Trump creates these “Mission Accomplished” moments every day, which really makes them fade into the sea of bullshit on which he floats.

Congress may have boxed Trump in with the sanctions bill against Russia, but their actions were done for all to see. They are working on shoring up their reputations and getting re-elected. They don’t live in an electoral college world, they sink or swim according to a popular vote, therefore, they must be “popular” with as many constituents as possible.

Trump downplayed Russia’s evil agenda during the election for reasons we will hopefully understand better when all of the dust clears from the handful of investigations currently underway. Trump focused his discontentment on China with his campaign rhetoric. He never accused Russia of currency manipulation, unfair trade practices or unfair treatment of the American worker. He dumped all of that on China.

It was no surprise when our President tweeted away July 29, 2017: “I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

And while he thought he had this “great” relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping, Trump can’t be straight forward about Russia, who increased trade with North Korea by 40% since Trump took office. North Korea showed a 4% growth rate. What?

Doesn’t the Donald know he is being played by this punk kid Kim Jong, the KGB spy Putin and all-powerful Xi Jinping? The fact is, Russia and China do NOT want to see a united Korean peninsula. They will both prop up North Korea and Kim Jong Un so that unification never happens. Why does the Donald think he can job-out the responsibility of reeling in Un?

Trump just went through an embarrassing week, vividly demonstrated by the vulgar language of his new buddy, “slick Anthony,” “the Mooch,” Scaramucci. Little Tony, the “front stabber,” revealed the in-fighting and destructive forces in the vortex of Trump’s inner circle. I would even advance the notion here that Trump is being played by his son-in-law and daughter to get rid of all the people who they don’t agree with. Do they think they are “protecting” the President? Well, the apples don’t fall… you know the rest. To fix the general discontent and chaos in the White House, let’s bring in a general. General Mills? General Motors? No, no, a real General.

The final act of this passion play opens with Steve Bannon left dangerous dangling outside of the circle of trust. On the next episode of Reality President, we learn if Bannon will be sent on his merry way, or be given a seat at the grown-up’s table.

Now that John Kelly, the Bostonian former General, is in command of the staff, will he put up with the very thing he hated about Obama: an intellectual approach to solving problems. Generals don’t like thinkers, they get in the way of marching. It won’t take long for Kelly to lose patience with the lack of a chain of command. Those he can fire, he will. The kids, of course, are off limits. The very reason they should NOT be there.

North Korea has tested 14 missiles this year, that’s almost one for every person fired from the Trump administration or government. And as the President preaches about law and order to a group of police officers urging them to not be so nice to people they arrest, his little joke was not taken too well by police federations and departments across this land.

The idea of letting the cops be the prejudger of whether someone arrested should be treated harshly or not during arrest ought to make all Americans nervous. Stop joking around Mr. President. What you suggested is why young Muslim girls get slashed by white supremacists and African-American men get gunned down by over-zealous and nervous cops.

In retaliation for Congress passing a stiff sanctions bill against Russia for meddling in our election, Putin has decided to expel 755 diplomats and foreign service workers from Moscow. Amazingly, Trump says he will sign the bill, which would be a smart and serious move on his part. If he were to veto this bill, he would rip the scab off the wound known as the Russia Investigation. As the investigation takes a break from the front pages, Trump would be wise to press forward and get serious about his role in the world.

Maybe Anthony Scaramucci did something productive when he showed the petty, uncomfortable, back biting working environment that exists inside the White House. This is Trump’s fault. Even privately held corporations would come under scrutiny with this kind of harassment in the workplace.

I still hear Trump voters say how the great Orange one is running the government like a company. Unfortunately for America, he’s running the country like a Trump organization, and all of those loyal Trump voters have never had a chance to work where H1B visa holding, non-Americans get jobs before you do. Boy, what a great boss.

Donald Trump might think he’s doing a great job, but the healthcare fiasco is just one example of Trump failing the test and getting an F for his efforts. He brags about the stock market as if he invented it. The stock market was already on the upward swing before he was elected. The job market opened up in the Spring of 2015, but Trump was too busy bashing Mexicans back then.

One of the things I say to people is this. The stock market doesn’t need Donald Trump to be successful. It was there before he was he was born — the New York Stock Exchange opened in March of 1817 — and it will be there long after he is gone. Just as Obama couldn’t ever take full credit for the stock market, Donald Trump can’t own the bump and then blame any future decease on someone else. If you say you own it, you own it. If Donald Trump was to be impeached and Mike Pence took office, the stock market wouldn’t collapse. It might even go up further. The stock market loves certainty, not unpredictability.

There are many challenges, both domestically and globally, that Trump must confront and manage in a sober manner. Trump has already spent a lot of “serious leader currency” by saying stupid things about world events, organizations and treaties. And back at home, his hurtful attacks on his own people have made it appear to many that he prefers chaos over order. Conflict before country and family before law. This is not the person who will help America stay great.

Now What Are You Going to Do?

One should be proud to be a member of the party that freed the slaves. The President who Donald Trump most admires, Andrew Jackson, was a Democrat. No one seems to mention that. Grant and Lincoln were Republicans, and Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, but his cousin FDR was a Democrat. JFK was a Democrat, while the disgraced Richard Nixon was a Republican. As times change, parties change, but people need to feel the party they support has a core set of values that they can believe in.

The party’s platform says that the RNC believes in American exceptionalism. Okay, USA, USA, USA, but then they say: “This platform is optimistic because the American people are optimistic. This platform lays out — in clear language — the path to making America great and united again. For the past 8 years America has been led in the wrong direction.” So much for the optimism. I wonder how many people in any party read their political party’s platform.

Research shows that there are many factors that make up the decision on affiliation to one party or another. Your family or where you grew up have a great influence over whether you follow the elephant or the donkey. Not sure why those images are used for the parties, but we also have to remember we have many other independent parties. Make no doubt about it, our government, from the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the rules and traditions of the Legislative branch, works best with two parties. But it should be pointed out here that the first President, George Washington had no political affiliation.

Donald J. Trump changed from liberal New York Democrat to National Republican. The reason for this move, he claims, is because he changed his viewpoints on so many issues that he just morphed into a Republican. Huh? Most political experts know that Trump’s move to another party was purely a political move with an eye on being elected.

Trump’s public comments demonstrated his obvious hate of Barack Obama. The Donald was also critical of George W. Bush’s governance, which didn’t disqualify him as a Republican, but created a wall between Trump and the Bush family. He even called George W. a liar during the debates. Nice guy, team player.

Donald Trump should have started his own party, but it was so much easier to hijack the Republican party and remodel it around his base of right-winged maniacs. There is some wisdom in putting down Washington and people of both parties, people already dislike our government in a generic way.

Here is my question to the Republicans who jumped on the band wagon, either early on or after nomination, what happened to your so-called moral bedrock? When Donald Trump came down that escalator and claimed that “Mexicans are rapists” you had your chance to pick up the phone and tell him that is not our message and we cannot have that in our party. But you were too busy trying to figure out how to win, rather than standing by your code of ethics.

You even let Donald’s people — read: Paul Manafort — change a plank in the platform to give Russia a stronger hand in the Ukraine. Why did you let that happen? Because you just wanted to win. And now, what do you have, a President without roots in your party and with no respect for the history of this country.

The fact that Trump conned the evangelical into backing him from the pulpits of their mega-churches and televangelist platforms is so unseemly that I would ask them, “What does your Jesus think?” Basically, people like Jerry Falwell, Jr. have sided with the money changers outside of the temple. They will be judged by a higher power, but you shouldn’t be fooled by these few money-hungry fools with lots of money.

The Republican Party is now in deep conflict. You still have deep-seated radical Tea Party people who will block most issues based on far-right initiatives (a minority in America) rather than what their constituents really want. You have half-baked neo-conservatives who pray to their Ronald Reagan photo every night but have little understanding of how Ron was able to get things done. Reagan was able to govern, even with tax increases, with professional acting prowess and statesmanship. He was previously the president of a labor union. He understood both sides.

The Republican party has some great members. Lindsey Graham, the Senator from South Carolina, has always told it like it is. John McCain, the Senator from Arizona who’s a bit old-fashioned, understands how it all works and what government is supposed to do. Sure, he sides with his party, but he’s not siding with the nonsense and the sabotage created by political whores like Newt Gingrich.

Winning is great, but you have a poor manager of government in the White House and a godforsaken lousy President. How did you let that happen? You have a president who doesn’t care about law. Where were you during this process of nomination? You have a charismatic show man with his long red ties and his fake hair and makeup trying to be the leader of free world but doing a horrendous job. You slap his back and smile for the cameras, because he was the winner and you didn’t want to lose. You have no balls.

The President and his new consigliere, Slick Anthony, use Twitter to shame and bully employees of the government. This, is not only uncouth but may be against the law. They are employees of the Federal government. Is not harassment against the labor law?

You Republicans have damaged your own party, but I guess you can sleep at night, because you know how dysfunctional the other party is. But in the end, you are going to have to make the biggest decision in 2020. Do you back the incumbent, or do you find someone else to proudly represent your party? You know, it would be a lot easier just to impeach him.

Trump’s Circle of Trust

There is something not quite right about the relationship that President Donald Trump has with his family and his work. He cannot seem to separate the two. While the mingling of business and family might be common in some royal families, in America it’s viewed with some skepticism.

There are those who didn’t like John Kennedy appointing his brother Robert to Attorney General. And no one talks about Harry Truman giving his wife Bess a job in the White House. She rose to Chairman of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, a position that garnered a paycheck, but according to biographers, not a position in which she actively participated.

Now, we have the President’s son-in-law positioned in a role of intense involvement and power: Senior Advisory to the President. There was stretch where Donald Trump was assigning young Jared a new job every other day, from bringing peace in the middle east to reorganizing the government to fixing the judicial system. Really?

We should remember Jared’s blast into business started with this headline: Kushner took over the family business when his father went to jail. And the person who helped put Charles Kushner behind bars was Chris Christie. You know the one who got passed over by the Donald. Jared was forced into running the family business at the age of 26 while his father was in federal prison convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.

I have just read the full six-pages of Jared Kushner’s statement to the Congressional Committee. This well-written document seems rather honest and direct. He’s 36 years old, but he seems to be traveling in a space way over his head. He forgets people, he doesn’t recall meetings, but worst of all, he didn’t even read the whole email that Don Jr. sent him. Jared, you have to read from the bottom up. This is the problem with top-down rich kids. And come on, how could you forget the name of the Russian Ambassador to the US?

He doesn’t remember meetings, but clearly remembers getting an email from Guccifer400, huh? Then he admits asking if there was an “existing communications channel at his (Russian) embassy” and mere sentences later, says, “I did not suggest a ‘secret back channel.’” He needs to get his story straight.

His last paragraph raised some eyebrows, “I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector.” This is one of those sentences written by a skilled attorney. “I have not relied…” doesn’t mean, I have no Russian investors in my properties. It could simply mean “I had no financial help while building or buying a property.” In fact, many Russian investors have bought or rented space in Trump and Kushner properties. They are customers.

Mr. Kushner needs to be placed under oath and questioned about the meeting with the banker on December 13, 2016. The bank is a state-owned property and the banker, Sergey Gorkov, gave Jared presents from his grandparents’ home in Belarus. Wait, the Kushners are from Belarus? Is that the same Belarus once part of Russia which became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. Oh boy, the story couldn’t get any richer.

So, Jared’s grand parents came from a Soviet bloc country and Donald Trump’s grand parents came from Germany. They are both second-generation immigrants. Of course, sons of different mothers, but this certainly makes the Trump anti-immigrant stance paradoxical.

Back to the President’s son-in-law, why does Trump need his daughter and Jared in the White House? What amount of insecurity do we, the American public, have to endure with Trump? We need him to make clear, objective decisions. The advice of family members can be tainted if they are more eager to please rather than providing truthful feedback. Ivanka could go on every Climate Change march and wear a skin-tight-fitting T-shirt that screamed Save the Planet and her father would ignore any action to help accomplish a better environment.

Jared, with his liberal views and democratic ways, is just a “yes man” and the “doer” while the Donald can jet around and scream to crazy-cult crowds of supporters. We know that Jared has contributed zero to the healthcare bill. As he said in his statement to the Congressional Committee, he’s so busy with thousands of emails, he doesn’t have time to read them all. He’s so busy, he doesn’t have time to do his job.

I almost laughed at the explanation about why the SF-86 had to be amended so many times. Jared Kushner’s excuse sounds like one of those ‘the dog ate my homework’ stories that so many parents and teachers have heard. Okay, you messed up kid, your assistant submitted a rough draft to the FBI. Wow, sure glad it wasn’t some important document.

All of this vividly reveals that Donald J. Trump and his associates are unaware of the laws of governance and uninterested in proper documentation. They are flying by the seat of their pants, and those pants aren’t even made in America.

In the movie Meet the Parents, Robert De Niro’s character, Jack Byrnes, introduces Ben Stiller’s persona, Greg Focker, to what Jack calls the “Byrnes Circle of Trust.” There’s this dialog: “See if I can’t trust you Greg, then I have no choice but to put you outside the circle. Once you’re out, you’re out. There’s no coming back.”

The difference between Trump and Jack Byrnes is when Trump sends someone away that he has endorsed in the past, he doesn’t send them out of the circle. He cannot admit he was wrong. He still speaks well of Michael Flynn, a person who could bring the Donald’s presidency to its knees. He says nice things about Sean Spicer. And maybe that is why he uses his family members as tools. Poor Don Jr. is a “good kid.”

It’s easier to be loyal to your family members than to those outside the circle of trust. Everyone will give Trump a pass on sticking up for his kids, but it’s getting harder to believe that Trump can shovel the same hackneyed phrases and conspiracy theories to all of the country without someone asking this question. Why do we want to be friends with Russia? Why is being friends with them so important to Trump and Jared? Are we worried more about protecting Belarus than the Ukrainian people from Russia? Hey, just asking.

Respect is Not Enough for Trump

400 years before the birth of Christ the Greek physician Hippocrates, incorporated four temperaments into his early practice: sanguine (enthusiastic, active, and social), choleric (short-tempered, fast, or irritable), melancholic (analytical, wise, and quiet), and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful). And of course, no one person stays in one zone all the time. We all have mixtures of those temperaments at any given time.

Our current president, seems to live in the sanguine and choleric areas and for those around him. The only way to stay on his team is to broadcast your open ‘love’ for him. With the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as Communications Director, we learned his modus operandi from the get-go was to praise his boss and proclaim his love for the Donald.

Mr. Scaramucci has obviously consumed the whole jug of Kool-Aid and will be framing the argument for and massaging the defense of Trump with the skill of a Wall Street tycoon, which is what he is. But that doesn’t change anything. Trump is still the President and his short-tempered, fast and irritating way of overreacting cannot be polished by a slick, well-dressed pitchman. Donald Trump is a high-risk investment.

The enthusiastic, active and highly social (Sanguine) Trump is hardly ever positive. Our great Orange Leader rails at and uses put-downs to intimidate his critics, while attempting to extort more love from his base. He’s like an abusive parent giving a treat after the beating. He has to front each topic with how bad things are to make himself seem the savior.

Maybe being loved is more important than facts, truth, honesty or transparency. Saying that his son’s extremely incriminating email release was being transparent lacks logic, credibility and honesty. Does he love his son more than he says he loves America? Would he lie for his son?

Scaramucci might think he can turn the gray battleship around, but in reality, he’s just a summer replacement player in the reality show known as the Donald J. Trump Presidency. Even Anthony S. said the President is 71-years-old, “You are not going to change him.” Perhaps, if we think a bit Freudian here, maybe Anthony Scaramucci is the son the Donald wish he had. He obviously likes Jared Kushner like a son. Maybe his kids, other than Ivanka, aren’t quite enough like him.

The new Communications Director Slick Anthony uses the term “mainstream media,” which is code for anything negative about the president reported by any news media outlet. They boxed up negative press as “mainstream” and are attempting to redefine it as “Fake.”

Fox News, a major ratings mass media channel, isn’t considered mainstream media because they usually agree with Trump. Why is that? Someone has to tell me what the true definition of “mainstream.” And then explain to me how a website with a few million readers is more important than any mass media outlet.

Truth has a way of rising and breaking the layer of scum on the surface of the swamp. If the mainstream media is trying to convince the 32% of America who caused this ridiculous embarrassment that Donald Trump was a bad choice, they are wasting their time.

Trump may control the Supreme Court picks while he is in power, but he should be very careful about who he pardons or even thinks about awarding a get-out-of-jail card. That roll of the dice could be as bad as Trump’s monumental failure at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. And when the Republicans finally admit that Trump is politically bankrupt, they will prepare his impeachment to save their own jobs.

One would think the Supreme Court would have a duty to block an aggressive attempt to remodel executive power. Any move that would force America into a constitutional crisis would verify to the other 68% of America that Donald Trump is not an honest human being. Trump will never win over those people.

The analytical, wise, and quiet people who work hard every day to make the government work for all the people are still there. They are in the Justice Department, they file into the Treasury, they sit on the Supreme Court and some are even in Congress. They want to do their job and keep the machine running.

The silliness and departures from normal protocols show the world only one man’s viewpoint on how things should be. There is no proof that what Trump is doing is good for America.

We never want a president to tell us what to believe. We never want a President to “explain” how things are as if they only know the truth. We expect him or her to listen to us and then make some rational decisions that will benefit as many people as possible. Donald Trump wants everyone to love him every day, but doesn’t understand that he must give love in order to get love.

When the man with the most power in the United States of America can be provoked by the least little criticism, we should worry. When the man who will be his voice says he loves the president more than a half-a-dozen times in his first press briefing, he shows us how it’s done.

He shows us why Putin is more important than protecting America from cyber-attacks from Russia. We saw Macron in France use the love offensive to charm his way right into Trump’s small hands. I don’t want to love the president, I want to respect him.

Trump truly believes that if I don’t say he is 100% right all the time, that I am #1, the enemy and #2, against him. For all those people during the campaign who said that the Donald did not have the temperament to be president, they were right. He is 90% choleric (short-tempered, fast, or irritable) and that is why we judge all that he does through a negative lens. No one can trust what he says. Just ask the Carrier workers in Indiana.

Scaramucci’s “new guy” enthusiasm is a nice change, but when he says, “The American people love this guy” I have to stop him there. Anthony, you need to do some research. More than 50% of American’s do not like this “guy;” your buddy. You need more than 50% to get a bill passed in Congress and we certainly ought to have a president who garners more respect and positive feedback than 32% of our citizens. Scaramucci’s job is to make more Americans favor and support the President. Good luck, Anthony.

The standard comeback by the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue talking heads when asked about low approval presidential ratings is that the President has higher ratings than the media or Congress. And they’re bragging about that?

I’m looking forward to a relaxed and peaceful time when we aren’t screaming at each other and the President of the United States has more than 50% approval rating and that his plans actually work. Right now, we have the wrong plans, the wrong message and the wrong President.

Again, we must ask, “What has gotten better?” Insurance rates are sky-high, wages are NOT moving up fast enough and taxes are the same. The big infrastructure plan is frozen. For a guy who said we would be winning really, really fast, we are waiting. Go for accomplishments Mr. President, not love.